The Dinosaur Pens level

machf · Post by **machf** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:31 pm

Draconisaurus wrote:How was there no power? The geo plant was turned on so the Lab would have power. And how do we know it was dino pens? (while that does sound cool) All we have is one dinosaur pen model from Lab, placed in Ascent 1 to give a seemless transition to the new position..

From GameCenter's sneak peek at Trespasser:

http://trescom.3dactionplanet.gamespy.c ... ndex2.html

by Tom Chick
(8/18/98)

I'm huddled over a monitor with Austin Grossman, lead designer of DreamWorks Interactive's Trespasser. He's matter-of-factly showing me one of the game's levels in which the lead character, Anne, is navigating a maze of powered-down, unlocked dinosaur pens. Suddenly, a shrieking Raptor shoves one of the pen doors open with its nose and surges out into the corridor.

"Cool!" Grossman cries. "I've never seen them do that--I've never seen one of them come through the door like that!"

Aside from that, there is another mention of it being a level somewhere (I'll try to find it again),

Plus, there are the destination symbols (dinosaur head behind bars) on the dock office's whiteboard listing the contents of the warehouses, and the fact that no boxes with the indicated companies' labels are to be found in any of the retail levels (aside from some broken lids to be found on the 'basement' - shred to pieces by the dinos, maybe?).

No screenshots from that level available, though (the closest is one of the GUInterface showing the pens at the end of the lab level, looking backwards towards the lab, so you can't see what it looked like after the end of the level).

As I already said, the area between the lab and the Ascent is vast, about the same size as the Lab level (PV is about the size of both of them together). It's not just a "short walk" between them.

I've taken some artistic license in "filling the gap" with a new level there, as you may already know. I hope you'll like it when it's finished.

Post by **Draconisaurus** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:34 pm

Hmmmmm.. *claps* I had forgotten about that quote. Sounds familiar, and definitely evidence enough to dig a little deeper (not to mention the symbol you mention, which is also good evidence).

Can't wait to see what it looks like!

masterchiefoo7 · Post by **masterchiefoo7** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:54 pm

there was a quote, something about having a boulder roll down a hill to break open some pen doors or something like that.

obviously, the level was taken out because of the bad AI in close quarters areas, and my guess is that event was scripted, and their amazment was fake when the raptor attacked them.

dont forget, there was that holding pen logo, and that couldnt have been just for that small area...

but if the holding pens were powered down, and you just activated the power plant.... well...

and in the lab, the pens werent powered down, they did have electricity.

regardless, there WAS supposed to be something there, and it WAS a real level.

Post by **Draconisaurus** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:59 pm

Good good.. definately something to ask our resident developers about.

(and I agree the pens probably did have power.. especially since the fences worked)

don vercetti · Post by **don vercetti** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:53 pm

I can remember reading something about that pens-level somewhere. So, the pens that are left in LAB and AS1 is most possibly what's left of that level?
Hmm... it's hard to know how big it was. I mean... how many pens could there've been? Maybe it was just... say... twice as big as the current area?

Post by **Hilwo** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:01 pm

Interesting. At first I thought that maybe it was just a test level to
show what the game could do. But if you say there are more
references to this being a level... I've always thought that the lab
was too small... Well not neccessarily too small, but there weren't
nearly enough pens.

don vercetti wrote:So, the pens that are left in LAB and AS1 is most possibly what's left of that level?

Interesting thought.

machf · Post by **machf** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:31 pm

Welll, the one in AS is likely there just to make it match the end of the lab... who know what originally was there.

Of course, I've left it there in order to fit my level between both existing ones.

Post by **Slugger** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:37 pm

I'll be interested in playing this level. The Four Towers kinda feels in the gap (at least it using that non-matching telemetry), so an actual level would be cool.

machf · Post by **machf** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:53 pm

Are yo talking about the original level, or the one I'm working on? I realize Four Towers intended more or less the same... and now I'm realizing some of my ideas for this olevel are going to match some of the ones for TC Isle (at least, according to what I've just read on those devlopment threads that were made public). Don't think I'm plagiarizing, it's just that, well, the concept is very similar...
Though I'd like to use some models from TC Isle so that I don't have to make new ones... ("some" meaning no more than half a dozen, I think)

Post by **RexHunter99** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:04 am

MachF I am available as a modeler! I cant UVMap as I have stated so many times before so Ill model em and give em strait to u.

machf · Post by **machf** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:19 pm

A few screenshots just to show that I've been working on this:

And it couldn't be called "The Pens" without actual dinosaur pens...

Nothing is definitive yet, though.

Post by **Draconisaurus** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:35 am

oooo lookin good.

still quite cryptic in what it reveals..
btw do I take it this means your new dino pens are made up of Harbor gate pieces? Personally I'd say it's better to create new sections that look like the gray/blue walls from the end of Lab..

And nice mountain road there (hoping it leads correctly to the other end

could actually use TPM terrain to match it up).

machf · Post by **machf** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 1:42 pm

Draconisaurus wrote:oooo lookin good. still quite cryptic in what it reveals..
btw do I take it this means your new dino pens are made up of Harbor gate pieces? Personally I'd say it's better to create new sections that look like the gray/blue walls from the end of Lab..

Well, I just started doing that, the last screenshot is a sample...

And nice mountain road there (hoping it leads correctly to the other end could actually use TPM terrain to match it up).

Of course I did!

Post by **Slugger** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:14 pm

Looks very nich machf!

machf · Post by **machf** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:03 pm

Coming soon...

(Well, not so soon, really...)